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Overview

No9s shine on day the rains came

THE DAY REPLAYED - You have to go back 20 years to find out when
the last match at a FIFA finals event was postponed. That came at
the FIFA U-16 World Championship in Canada when the match between
France and Australia was called off due to torrential rain. Twenty
years later, history almost repeated itself. Referee Matthew Breeze
was forced to make a pitch inspection several hours before
Peru's match with Tajikistan before passing the sodden surface
fit to play. Yet all four games were affected by the elements, from
Spain's cascade of goals against Korea DPR to Ghana's
narrow victory over pre-tournament favourites Brazil.

But on a day dominated by the rain, it was two No9s who shone
brightest. Damien Le Tallec and Spain's Bojan scored two goals
apiece to help send their side to the quarter-finals of the
competition. Each of the four goals were strikes of the highest
quality, with Bojan, who celebrated his 17th birthday yesterday,
the Round of 16's opening scorer. He turned his marker on the
edge of the box before unleashing an unstoppable shot which
cannoned in off the post. Five minutes after the interval, the
Barcelona starlet grabbed his second, firing home from the corner
of the box to double his team's advantage. Iago then became the
third substitute in this competition to score within a minute of
his entrance to ensure that there was no way back for the brave
Koreans.

Le Tallec, on the other hand, left it late for France, but his
goals were just as valuable as they overcame Tunisia in Changwon.
The Rennes striker netted two goals in the opening period of extra
time to send his side through. Henri Saivet's free-kick had
given Les Bleuettes the lead, but it was cancelled out by Nour
Hadhria within four minutes of the restart. Despite being reduced
to ten men following Mohamed Karoui's dismissal, Tunisia, who
had enjoyed a 100 per cent record in the group stages, took the tie
to extra time, but this was the signal for the Rennes striker to
come into his own. First Le Tallec twisted and turned his way
through the Tunisian defence before hitting the ball into the top
right corner of the net before adding a sublime second six minutes
later to set up a tie between the two European nations in Jeju on
Saturday.

Group B for 'Bye', Hermoza the heroHow Brazil would have wished for a Bojan or Le Tallec in
their ranks tonight. Their No9, Maicon, who suffered a broken leg
following a challenge with England's Henri Lansbury, was
sitting in the stands in Gwangyang. The samba starlets suffered a
1-0 defeat at the hands of Ghana through Issac Donkor's second
half strike. What made the result all the more remarkable was that
the samba starlets enjoyed a one-man advantage following Francis
Boadi's dismissal, but despite Felipe, Fabio and Junior all
going close, they found Ghana goalkeeper Joseph Addo in inspired
form. Brazil became the day's second side from Group B,
following Korea DPR, to be knocked out of the tournament. England
will be hoping that they can buck the trend against Syria
tomorrow.

The day also brought the tournament's first penalty
shoot-out with Peru and Tajikistan the participants. On offer was a
place in the last eight and a quarter-final clash with Ghana in
Changwon. It turned out to be a villain of the opening 120 minutes
to emerge as the game's hero. Step forward Eder Hermoza.
Peru's No1 had allowed Nuriddin Davronov's 15th minute
strike to slip through his hands, just two minutes after Reimond
Manco had given his side the lead. Yet all was forgotten when
stopped Tajik captain Farkhod Vasiev's powerfully struck
penalty, the Asian's first of the night.

True enough, Luis Trujillo, Manuel Calderon, Cesar Ruiz, Manco
and Irven Avila all deserve congratulations for successfully
converting, but it was Hermoza who was the difference between the
two sides. Tajikistan's players, who saw all but one of their
penalties hit the back of the net, deserve to receive
commiserations for their cruel exit, but their team will bounce
back, possibly at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt in two years
time.